


Plinko is the Game! Or, Daniel's Lucky Day

by Storyshark2005



Category: Cobra Kai (Web Series)
Genre: Bro Bros, Cole's on Van Nuys, Gen, Humor, It's For Charity, Johnny rigs the game of Plinko, Rachel the Price is Right model, Rigging vs Cheating, The Price is Right, friendship fic, gwyneth paltrow - Freeform, just for giggles really, literally this was a joke on Facebook
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:27:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23933041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Storyshark2005/pseuds/Storyshark2005
Summary: Facebook fic prompt from cutesynamehere and Brihana25:  "Daniel as a gameshow host."This is not that...I don't even know. But it has Plinko in it!And rats-- er, sorry-- guinea pigs! And Gwyneth Paltrow. Not Drew Carey, though. Sorry about that.
Relationships: Daniel LaRusso & Johnny Lawrence
Comments: 11
Kudos: 20





	Plinko is the Game! Or, Daniel's Lucky Day

**Author's Note:**

  * For [brihana25](https://archiveofourown.org/users/brihana25/gifts), [CutesyNameHere](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CutesyNameHere/gifts).



> Author’s Note: Pretend the school fight never happened...

The ads have been playing all week. 

It had started off “all in good fun.” 

It was for _charity_. 

But Angela drops the big red chip down into the maze of plexiglass and it dances around and around _left, right, right, left,_ heading right for the red $0 slot. At the last moment, with a teasing little puff of Tom Cole’s cheeks, the chip makes a stomach dropping swoop right into the center slot, the gold, glittery lettering _$10,000._

And then it happens _again--_

“Nobody’s that lucky!” Daniel shouts over the kitchen island, Amanda was cracking open cardboard to-go boxes, tamales from _La Fogata._

“What, so you’re upset that the guinea pig shelter gets more money?” 

“It’s a terrible charity! And it’s not a shelter-- it’s like a, a, retreat for overweight rats. That money should go to a better cause.” 

Amanda frowns. “They’re not rats, Daniel. They’re _guinea pigs--_ much cuter than rats.” 

Robby ambles into the kitchen with Sam in tow. “They’re definitely cheating,” he nods, climbing up into one of the stools in front of the breakfast bar, Sam joining one stool over. “Nobody is that lucky. I bet the Price is Right people know it too. But since it’s for charity...” he shrugs. “They probably aren’t looking into it.” 

“That’s besides the point,” Daniel huffs. “Cheating is cheating.” 

“That’s right, Dad.” Sam nods supportively. 

“You should ask my Dad about it, actually.” Robby reaches out to a bowl of tortilla chips. “He told me one time that he and his buddies figured out how to cheat at Plinko. They showed up for a few of the tapings, but never got called down. He said they would have won for sure, though.” 

“Your Dad figured out how to cheat at Plinko?” Daniel squints, loosening his tie. 

Robby nods again. “Yeah. I think so. You should call him.” 

Amanda grins, “ _Oh,_ babe. This is a dilemma for you, huh?” 

Sam crunches on chips, wiggling her eyebrows. “The enemy of my enemy, right Dad?” 

  
  


***

_A two day charity event will be hosted this weekend by area car dealerships and the televised game show, ‘The Price is Right’._

_One of the featured charities to benefit from the event is “Pee-Wee’s Hope House.”_

_According to its website the charity, started in 2004 by the actress Gwyneth Paltrow, has sheltered more than 700 guinea pigs abandoned due to owner surrender, unexpected pregnancy or government-sanctioned seizure. Charitable donations are used to provide bedding, food and other supplies to the homeless creatures._

_Pee-Wee’s Hope House is named after the first resident, Pee-Wee, an obese and diabetic guniea pig who was found abandoned in a Whole Food parking lot in La Brea._

_“I could see in his beady little eyes, he knew his days of misery and scavenging were over,” Ms. Paltrow commented after her personal assistant found Pee-Wee living off of broken containers of plain Sabra brand hummus in the dumpster behind the Whole Foods. “You know that’s the worst brand,” Ms. Paltrow commented, “You shouldn’t pay less than fifteen dollars for a quality container of hummus.”_

_Tom Cole of Cole’s on Van Nuys commented that his company selected the charity for sponsorship because “The little guys and gals are so helpless-- they don’t even have thumbs!”_

_Other local dealerships selected their own charities. Daniel LaRusso of LaRusso Auto chose to sponsor The Boys and Girls Club, commenting “I think helping local kids find mentors in life is a little more important than helping out homeless guinea pigs.” Tom Cole was reached for comment- “I guess I’m an animal lover. Some people are anti-animal. I think that’s a shame.”_

_The charity event will take place this weekend over two days, with the infamous Plinko board kicking off the event on Saturday at Cole’s on Van Nuys, and ending on Sunday afternoon at LaRusso Auto in Sherman Oaks._

_Drew Carey, the host of “The Price is Right” will reportedly not be in attendance. “But Rachel will be there,” Mr. Carey assured. “She’s the best around!” Ms. Reynolds is the longest-serving current model on the show, and the last remaining current model from the Bob Barker era._

_***_

Johnny answers the phone at nine o’clock that night, right after dinner.

_“Ahhhhhhhh, LaRusssoooo.....”_

“Are you drunk right now?” 

_“Nah, nah.”_ A hiccup. _“No way. I’m good.”_

“Jesus, Johnny.”

_“You shut up. I didn’t call you just to be insulted--”_

“ _I_ called you!”

_“Oh that’s nice.”_

Daniel pinches his temples. The headache was no longer impending. It was full-blown. 

“Okay, Jesus. I just need to ask you about Plinko.” 

Johnny snorts, laughing, which turns a little higher pitched. _“Oh, yeah, you wanna win your little car contest, huh?”_

“How do you-- nevermind. It’s for charity, and there’s a game of Plinko. I think Cole’s is cheating.” 

_“They probably are. It’s not that hard.”_

“How?”

_“Well you have to have an inside guy.”_

“I don’t have an inside guy.” 

_“Well you just have to get INSIDE then, don’t you?”_

“The fuck are you talking about?” 

Johnny chuckles, takes a drink. _“What’s in it for me?”_

Daniel sighs. “Nothing. I dunno. I can owe you? We can work something--” 

_“DEAL!”_ Johnny shouts. _“Your life belongs to me now.”_

“You haven’t done anything, asshole.” 

_“How’s it supposed to work? Does Cole have any more turns left?”_

“Uh, no. He did his round today at his place, and we get our round tomorrow at Sherman Oaks.” 

_“That’s...that’s fuckin’--”_ another hiccup. _“--fuckin’ perfect. This is gonna be so good. How many chips do you get? They givin’ you five?”_

“Yeah, I think so, why?” 

_“You want all five in the big money?”_

“Three, because Cole got two--” 

_“We’ll fuckin...we’ll do five, LaRusso. Big money for the big boy. Do you fish?”_

“Five is too many, Johnny, it’ll look bad-- wait, what do you mean _do I fish--”_

_“I mean, Danielle, meet me at your little car dealership in an hour. Bring some of that clear fishing line and we’ll get your little chips in. All you gotta do is drop all five in the same couple of slots and you’re in the money.”_

“So...wait. How did you even plan to do this back in the day? Robby said you had a plan with your friends--” 

Johnny chuckles lowly, a little frightening, honestly. _“You know Rachel, right?”_

“Who?” 

_“One of the models, dummy, she was smokin’ hot. Well let’s just say Rachel and I go way back. Let’s just say she let me backstage,”_ he hiccups. 

“Ew,” Daniel shudders. “That better be literal.” 

Johnny sighs drunkenly, reverently, into the speaker. _“She’s a very talented girl.”_

“I can’t believe I’m doing this--” Daniel glances at his watch. “An hour?” 

_“One...hour, Danielle.”_

  
  


***

Johnny shows up two hours late, drives up to the front of the dealership. The tires screech and jump over the curb, nearly hi-centering the car over the sidewalk. 

_“Jesus Christ, what is wrong with you--_ I’ve been here for over an hour-- why are you dressed like that?” 

“You gotta be subtle, Danielle, for this type of work,” Johnny nearly trips over his own feet. He was dressed all in black, except for his usual ratty jeans, with a black beanie pulled low over his head. He had also drawn sloppy black lines under his eyes, like a little leaguer. He was carrying a crow bar. 

“What’s that for?! We’re not _robbing_ my own dealership--” Daniel grabs him by the arm, dragging him around to the back of the building. 

“Where’s the board?” 

“It’s locked up, in that trailer.” Daniel points across the lot to a cordoned off temporary stage, and a non-descript storage trailer. 

Johnny hums, walking in a surprisingly straight line. They both duck under the rope barriers, and stare up at the trailer door. 

“You’re not gonna like...break the lock--” Daniel stares down at Johnny’s crow bar, which he was tapping contemplatively on the pavement. 

Johnny whistles long and low. He sets the crowbar down and pulls a couple of wrenches from his pocket. He leans over the door latch, positioning the wrenches on either side of the padlock in a V-shape.

“You learn a lot hanging around Dutch, you know,” Johnny lines the wrenches up flush, squinting in concentration. 

“Oh, no,” Daniel looks back over his shoulder. “Johnny, you know, I’ve having second thoughts--” 

“Quit bitchin’”, Johnny grins. “This is for _charity_ , Danielle--” He presses the wrenches together, and the steel padlock gate buckles like cheap plastic. “Fuck, yeah..” Johnny breathes, and pulls the trailer door handle open. 

The Plinko board glints in the security lights, Daniel can see the bright red, fuchsia, and baby blue paint, radiating out from the center of the board like a glorious sunrise. 

“Whoa,” Johnny breathes. “I think that’s the original one.” 

Daniel nods. “It is.” 

“You know we could get in a lot of trouble for this.” 

Daniel looks over at Johnny in his black hoodie and jeans and the smears of eye-black under his eyes. 

“You got the fishing line?” Johnny’s eyebrows go up. 

Daniel nods, and pulls the clear wire from his pocket. 

Johnny grins, a little drunk, a lot giddy. 

“Let’s do it,” he says. 

Daniel follows him up into the trailer, and thinks _‘Oh my God what am I doing’_ and also maybe just a little whisper of Johnny Lawrence’s slurred, delighted, entirely juvenille exclamation of, _‘Fuck yeahhhhhh!’_

Plus. 

It was for charity.

  
  


***

Daniel wins $50,000 dollars for the Boys and Girls Club of San Fernando Valley. Tom Cole walks up after the cameras swivel from Daniel’s grinning face, after the big cardboard check is handed over. He snears in Daniel’s face about _I know what you did_ and Daniel just shrugs and pats him on the back and tells him _“It’s for charity, Tom, relax! I’m sure Gwynne will take care of your little rat shelter--”_

“They’re guinea pigs,” Tom grits through his teeth. “I’ll see you next year, LaRusso.”

Daniel glows for awhile, basking in the confetti and the kids running around, all in _Boys & Girls Club _t-shirts. He doesn’t see Johnny until later hanging out behind the cotton candy vendor making out with Rachel the Price is Right Girl.

“Oh, hey LaRusso,” he detaches his lips from the girl’s face. She blushes and excuses herself, _I have to uh, go calm down the producers, they’re pretty mad--_

Daniel crosses his arms. “It’s pretty ingenious. Not really _cheating_ though, not like you had a strategy. More like _rigging?”_

Johnny shrugs. “Tomato, tomato, LaRusso.” He pronounces the word ‘tomato’ the same way both times. 

Daniel rolls his eyes. “How did you plan on getting away with this on the show? I mean, today we’ll be fine. Either they think Cole already did it, or they think I love the kids enough to do it myself. But back then...” he shrugs. “You would have been caught.” 

“Yeah. But then we would’ve been the kids who figured out how to rig Plinko on national television. I woulda been batting the chicks off with a stick.” Johnny shrugs. “I dunno. It was probably mostly to piss Sid off. He used to work at CBS as head of daytime programming, or something like that.” 

“So you wanted to rig the most popular game on the most popular game show in the country just to piss your step-dad off.”

“Yeah.” 

“Oh. Well. Why’d you do it this time?” 

Johnny squints off into the distance. “That Tom Cole guy. He seems like a real asshole.” 

“Yeah,” Daniel snorts. “You can say that again.” 

“He reminds me of Sid.” 

“Oh, yeah.” 

“So fuck them.” 

“Yeah,” Daniel nods, tilting his head. He’s never had this feeling before. Sort of a warm fuzziness bubbling around in his chest. At least, not for Johnny Lawrence. 

“You wanna go get a beer?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Then... maybe spar a little...? Robby’s at the dojo all day today.” Daniel kicks his shiny shoes into the asphalt. 

“You serious?” 

Daniel nods. 

“Ah...” Johnny breathes, hesitant. “He’s not gonna wanna see me.” 

“He’s the one who suggested I call you, actually.” 

Johnny blinks. “Really?” 

“Yeah. He remembered the Plinko story. He said you guys used to watch the show together. You told him about the whole rigging idea.”

“When he was like...six. He remembers that?” 

Daniel purses his lips, trying not to smile. “Well, you know. Kids remember things like that. Good memories. Very Cobra Kai, by the way. Telling a six year old how you conspired to cheat at Plinko.” 

“Yeah, well. Fuck Cobra Kai,” Johnny coughs. Daniel imagines that’s still a little painful to say. “That’s Kreese’s now.” 

“Well. So you’re not busy.” 

“No.” 

“Okay. Let’s go.” 

The day goes rather well, a few drinks at the bar and roughhousing at Miyagi-do. Johnny and Robby make plans to go see a movie the next day, and later that evening Johnny texts Daniel a picture of his middle finger with a caption that says _Thanks asshole_. 

Daniel feels pretty good about his day until Sam comes bustling through the front door with a small crate in her hand, and tells him that Tom Cole’s personal donation covered adoption fees for all of the animals this week. 

It’s a rat. 

“Guinea pig!” she corrects sternly.

It weighs 3.5 pounds, has chronic blood pressure, arthritis, and diabetes. 

She names it _Lucky_. 

“It’s too bad,” she comments, holding the squealing ball of fluff up. “The lady at the clinic said the charity money was going to cover the vet bills for newly adopted animals for a year! And insulin’s not cheap, _is it Lucky?! No it’s not, ooohhh sweet girl!”_

Daniel puts his jacket on and leaves. 

  
  
  
  


**THE END**

  
  


***

  
  
  
  
  



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